


Re Introduction

by SmolSoldier46



Category: The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms (Album), The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: :), Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, As always Lyf is tired, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Its not to bad, Kind of angsty, Lyf is not amused, Post-The Bifrost Incident, The gang kidnaps Lyf, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Unrequited Pinning, Violins, but they come back its fine, octo kittens, typical mechs violence, what to do if you know that corpse, what to do when you see your shipmates dragging a corpse through a room
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26265136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolSoldier46/pseuds/SmolSoldier46
Summary: After your whole planet is destroyed you're going to need a new career. Lyf in a attempt to use some more unacknowledged abilities becomes a bounty hunter and is doing quite well, that is until they meets three mechs in a bar. They escaped the bifrost but apparently not the prisoners (and Lyf is quite mad about the whole situation).
Relationships: Ivy Alexandria & Lyfrassir Edda, Lyfrassir Edda & Marius von Raum, Lyfrassir Edda & The Mechanisms, The Aurora/Nastya Rasputina
Comments: 30
Kudos: 126





	1. A New Survivor

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at three am and will not be elaborating though I might expand on this cause I really like the idea of Lyf being a bounty hunter.

It was rough losing your whole planet. It didn't matter if you had been a criminal, a teenager, or someone who just wanted to be rid of the place, it was going to be rough. It had been even harder for Lyfrassir Edda, the former inspector, to move on considering that no one else had made it out and almost all knowledge of their planet had been destroyed with their people. So it's been rough to say the least.

After a while Lyf had been faced with some obvious problems. Noone knew who they were and they were low on supplies and cash. Not only that but their ‘cash’ was probably not even cash at this point and some artifact so whos to say they could buy something even if they had more. So to rephrase they were low on supplies and had no cash.

Key word is ‘were’ because the ‘inspector’ had at that moment decided to take on a new career opportunity. You see it can be hard to find a job that still allows you to travel and move about while also keeping some of the abilities you have as a detective. They needed something that paid well and paid quick, something they could do with little flaw and where people wouldn't ask questions. They needed a job where people wouldn’t follow but still knew who to come to, and that's where it hit them.

Lyfrassir had training, everyone in their force had training with basic weapons and hand to hand combat at least once a year (personally they tried to get a good routine out of it when they could, stress relief and all that). They knew how to use a gun, they knew how to disarm someone, hell if they wanted they could even get them to completely trust them before arresting them (though they hadn't needed to use it back in midgard). They had fallen out of practice but the movements were hard to forget and they just so happened to have a couple older weapon models on the ship when they had fled. So the decision was easy.

Now three years later they had upgraded from their old supplies to a new style. Weapons of varying degrees sat on the walls kept polished, clean, and up for the taking depending on the job. Their fashion had also changed and morphed in mainly dark clothes with shifting rainbow patterns on lining them or used for details. Their hair was still decorated with braids, beads, and occasionally flowers but they had gotten it shaved in the back and partly sides making it much easier to manage. Notebooks, papers, and pens still sat in both organized and chaotic piles on the ship like before but now they almost all wanted posters, much different than before. 

At this point you're probably wondering what job a sour unknown detective could pull off enough to improve this much in such a short period of time, and that was simple. Lyfrassir had decided to become a bounty hunter, and a rather effective one at that for you see the bifrost hadn't just traumatized them, it changed them. Not only did they seem to have shifting colors in their hair or eyes but they could also shift things around them if in a dire situation.

The first time they figured this out was when they had been caught in an abandoned warehouse decked out with hitmen. Quicker than Lyf had anticipated the guards opened fire on them shooting them once in the shoulder and leg. Not only did their now black blood leak out on the floor covering them in what could easily be mistaken for oil but the lights proceeded to flicker. Lyf collapsed as the floor around them seemed to crack and fall apart revealing the shifting colors of the bifrost they had thought they had escaped. The people surrounding them screamed in agony but they had been to out of it to focus on them, no they were focusing on the colors. As soon as they looked away the hitman laid upon the ground, still breathing but not doing quite well. Looking back at the bullet wounds they saw as their skin formed colorful bruises over them slowly patching up each wound.

“Well that's new,” they mumbled watching as their skin dipped and twisted to cover the wound seemingly swallowing the bullet itself inside.

At that Lyf leaned over coughing in pain, the only difference is that when they leaned back both bullets sat in their hand covered in black. The glistened in the now swaying lights as they stood up and dropped them to the ground with their pool of slick oily blood. 

It wasn’t a pleasant experience to say the least, especially not the first time but after a while they grew to control their powers with a little bit more finesse. Now it was normal to patch up the bullet holes that littered their clothes and maybe use a little bit of eldritch abominations if it meant fixing up the colors in their clothes of the odd colors of their lights. 

So in other words this had become the normal for the ‘inspector turned bounty hunter’, drop in a planet, get a quick hunt, nab the bounty, do some personal investigation and buy anything needed, and get away as quick as possible. However despite their best attempts Lyfrassir did obtain a name for themselves among the planets. Lots of people referred to them as ‘The Rainbow Shadow’ as boring as that was. It wasn’t that big so they didn’t need to worry much about being recognized, and by extent hunted, but it had become enough of a thing that some people shot second glances at them when passing by. 

So all things considered being a bounty hunter ended up pretty well for Lyf. They got paid well and nobody bothered them or cared enough to track them. It was smooth sailing for a while, a simple routine that only became more average as they had continued to move around. However every good thing comes to an end, their end had just come in a slightly more average looking package. 

You see they didn't exactly pay too much attention to where they were heading which is what had brought them to a rather interesting planet. It was quaint and overall nice on the outside but as they stayed longer they had realised just how dangerous the place was, they also learnt who was causing this danger. It happened on the second day of their arrival, a news report on the radio stating that a whole bar of people had been slaughtered in a single night before being lit on fire. That was enough to catch Lyfs attention and distract them from their cup of coffee.

“The culprits are unidentifiable but could also be the same from the Mansarlin chase, if anybody has any information we request you speak up and soon so we can stop this senseless slaughter.”

They cocked their head in interest at the statement. Sure there had been murder cases like this before but to be completely unidentifiable, well that rarely happened. You didn't have to be a bounty hunter to see that there was a job opportunity there. So they had pushed themselves up from their breakfast, dumped their coffee into a thermos, grabbed a small pistol and knife from their shelves, and set out in search of the nearest police station.

It took almost no time to find the station. Vans and cameramen surrounded the place looking for the latest interview material while cops kept them at a distance. They waltzed up to the building only stopping when a younger lad came up to face them.

“I’m sorry, were quite busy right now with the latest bar fight case and-”

“That's what I’m here to talk about sir, I’m a traveling bounty hunter with many captures under my belt, I heard there was a problem and I'm here to deal with it given that you guys can pay the right price.” Lyf shifted on their feet giving off a rather threatening aura despite the height difference.

“Even then we will need irrefutable evidence in order to higher you so you might as well come back at a later date when you have that evidence.”

They took a deep sigh of annoyance, “My name is ‘The Rainbow Shadow’ as far as you can be concerned, that strike a chord sir?”

All the color in the man's face drained away in an instant leaving him shaking. His eyes darted from the coat to their shifting eyes and colored hair as they realised exactly what they were dealing with. 

“I see, in that case I'm sure you’ll be able to come in,” they shifted nervously to the side. 

They nodded briskly moving past the cop and walking into the station startling many inside. Many glanced over and murmured to each other about their appearance but Lyf couldn't care less, they had a job to do and they were going to do it damn well. Walking up the receptionists counter they simply leaned on and spoke in a bit of a hushed tone in an attempt to not arouse any concern. 

“I’m here to ask about the new case, the one that ended up burning down a whole bar,” they stated, watching as the receptionist's face went blank for a moment.

“Right!” she said quickly, filling out paperwork. “The suspects are wanted dead or alive and we have little to no information on them if you wish to see the witness reports or to be given further information. I'm going to need you to sign these.”

They signed the papers already piercing together what they could. Death was an option here and that was always important to note. 

“Alright,” she handed him a small stack of papers that included names, locations, a couple copies of police sketches, and some summaries. “This is what we currently have on the case, it includes all information as well as the sum you will be paid upon bringing in the suspects.”

Lyf nodded in appreciation walking out the door as quick as they had entered. They had the papers and if they were lucky they would be able to find them rather quickly with a couple of well placed stakeouts. 

It took a week to even come up with a plan and execute it, the criminals thought they had been smart but were anything but that. They couldn’t tell who was dumber in this instance, the cops or the murderers. So here they sat at a bar just on the outskirts of the city drinking a more light serving then they had preferred waiting patiently with their eyes on the prize. 

The prize just so happened to be three oddly dressed individuals who sat together at one of the tables. One was wearing a tan coat and had goggles resting around his neck as well as detailed line work around his eyes. That man was currently talking with a different figure who looked very much like they could murder Lyf with only a gaze if they chose. Their makeup was dramatic and they were currently shuffling a small deck of cards before handing them out. The last one at the table was the most energetic, he had long hair though shorter than the first man and had the most detailed eyeliner of the bunch, he was also drinking like a maniac compared to the rest. 

They just watched the three converse for a while before the one who had dished out the cards (and had quite the poker face) made eye contact. 

‘Time to put those acting classes to use’ they mumbled pushing themselves up and making their way over to the table.

The other two turned to look at them curiously. 

“Mind if I join in?” Lyfrassir asked giving a small wave.

“Be our guest!” the one with goggles smiled gesturing at the table.

It didn’t take long for them to pull up a chair and join them. Up close they could see that the one before was not only winning, they were dominating the game. Every turn they made seemed way too planned out to be luck and it didn't take long for them to win the game with little flaw. 

“So are you guys from around here?” they asked, taking a sip of their drink.

“More just stopping by,” they had responded, reshuffling the cards.

“Do you guys have a name or do you just want me to refer to you guys as numbers 1 through 3?”

The joke got a small chuckle as once again the cars were drawn out of the pile and sorted among the four. “Im Ashes, the one with the goggles is Tim and the one who insisted on wearing the insufferable amount of belts is Jonny.”

Jonny looked offended by this comment and quickly moved to defend his name, “Excuse you I’ll have you know that this is a fashion statement and it's a damn good one at that.”

“Is that what that is?” Tim asked joining in on the teasing.

“It very much is Mr.Gunpowder,” they mocked. “At least I'm not the one who accidentally dyed their hair blue.”

“One time,” he responded, leaning back into the booth with an annoyed tone. “You can’t read one label, ask Nastya to and suddenly you wake up with dark blue hair!”

“Nastya?” Lyf asked, glancing down at their cards as the game began.

“A friend, speaks Cyberian and gets a kick out of us trying to decipher the stuff,” Ashes quipped as they placed a card down on top of the pile causing Johnny to grumble in annoyance. 

“I see, did you come here with her?”

“Yeah but she decided to have practically back to back date nights,” he answered. “I mean seriously I get she needs her alone time with her girlfriend but I really, really wish that girlfriend wasn’t our whole ship.”

Tim nodded in agreement. “Anyway what about you Mx. Rainbow? You surely ask a lot of questions, what brings you here?”

“It’s Lyf, I'm here on business to put it bluntly.”

Jonny snorted at this covering his laugh with his cards, “Let me guess, are you a cop?”

In that moment Lyf practically broke a bit. It was just a sarcastic comment right? There’s no way this man could possibly know who they had been nor what they had been through. It was impossible for anyone to escape the bifrost except those three. 

They felt their blood boil at the mere thought of the three criminals. They had always been suspicious but in the end they were worse than Yog Sototh. They knew what was happening and did nothing, they saved nobody. Those three could’ve saved everyone on that planet and they decided not to,why? For their own twisted entertainment. No, Lyf would never forgive them, even if it's what kills them.

The table went silent as the three looked up at the stranger. They could see the shifting colors in their eyes changing from the pleasant lavender to a dark blood stained red. They had seen a lot of disturbing things happen in their lives, it came free with immortality, but this sent a shiver down their spines.

“You’re Lyfrassir Edda aren’t you?” Ashes asked carefully, placing their cards down.

There was a moment of silence as they placed their glass carefully on the table. “And what if I am?”

The three shared a look with each other. “Do you mind following us?”

“How do I know you're not just going to shoot me as soon as you can? I’m not stupid.”

“You don’t need to follow us, that's just what we would prefer,” they said, making eye contact with Lyf as they shuffled the cards and placed them back in their box.

“You're going to kidnap me?”

Ashes shrugged in response as Tim and Jonny began to shuffle out of the booth. “We’ll shoot you if we have to.”

Lyfrassir watched the three circle them. They were outnumbered and had no say in this didn’t they? Worse comes to worse they’ve still got a gun and the power of eldritch abominations on their side. “I’ll follow but if I have to deal with one thing I don’t like from you three I’ll make sure you don’t see the light of day for a good week.”

“And that's about as much as we can request!” Tim smiled before moving forward. “God, Marius is going to be thrilled to see you’re still alive and kicking.”

Lyf stopped dead in their tracks. “I’m sorry who?”

The world seemed to freeze as the ground around them shifted hues and colors. The three noticed this and immediately seemed to jump to action. Jonny grabbed their arm as ashes ran at them holding a small rag they pulled out god knows when. 

“Let go you bastard!” Lyf shouted, punching the man and quickly making a grab at their gun.

By now the bar had noticed what was happening and people had begun to quickly make their escape towards the door. Tim rushed over grabbing at them just a bit too late. A bullet rested now nuzzled square between Jonny's eyes, his lifeless body leaning against a table. The lights on the ceiling flashed, flickered, and exploded raining glass down upon the four. 

“A little help!” Tim shouted struggling to hold raging Lyfrassir still.

“I’m trying Tim!” Ashes shouted as they pressed the cloth to their face muffling the angry protests that mainly ranged around varying degrees of murder and revenge.

Slowly the colors faded back to normal as they began to grow weaker and weaker under the power of the sedative. They kicked, screamed, and cried bloody murder to the three and Ashes mummured sweet nothings in feeble attempt to calm them. It took a bit of struggling but eventually Tim was able to relax their grip on their wrists as Lyf began to slouch forward into Ashes shoulder. 

“You alright Jonny?” Tim asked as Ashes picked up the ex inspector and placed them on their shoulders.

“I take it our friend is not as excited to see Marius as he will be to see them.”

Tim shrugged. “I’m not one to judge on homicidal tendencies but watching someone important to you die can push you to do a lot of crazy things.”

Jonny nodded along pushing himself off the table as he steadied himself. “Has impeccable aim even if they're in a bloody rage,” they commented wiping at the blood.

There was a moment of silence as the three stood there awkwardly. “Back to the ship?”


	2. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marius just reminiscing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 am :). Also, no corrections we die like the Yggdrasil system. I will also cause you pain by being as wordy and expressive as possible and I am both sorry and not sorry about that.

Getting back from the Yggdrasil system had been rough to say the least. On one hand Marius had escaped the inevitable, though quite brutal, destruction of the system, on the other hand he had left Lyf behind in the aftermath. Ivy and Raph had to practically drag him clawing and screaming back to the ship much to Jonnys dismay. It was a bloody ordeal to say the least.

Marius had never completely gotten over the whole ordeal. It should've been easier to forget the sour inspector, they weren't anything important in the grand scheme of things. At first it wasn’t important and he had just moved through the days back on the Aurora with as much finesse as he had before, that proceeded to deteriorate as the days went by. 

They would find themselves just waiting sometimes for something to happen, that was the first sign. He would just sit for a while unsure of what to do for hours and sometimes whole days. If he got bored back in Yggdrasil he could’ve just insisted on seeing the inspector, if told no there was always the choice of breaking out. This clearly annoyed them and it thrilled Marius to know they were keeping them away from whatever important paperwork needed to be done.

“What do you need, Von Raum?” they had asked late one night, rubbing their temple in annoyance.

“Shouldn’t you be home by now? It’s what in this system, midnight?” he asked curiously in an overly chipper tone.

Ivy and Raphaella had fallen asleep hours before and layed cuddling. Marius had doubted how heavy they slept when on the ship but now after sharing a cell with them for years he had come to learn that if they desired both of the women could sleep through a war unbothered. Marius was never considered a light sleeper but compared to them he might as well be waking up at the touch of a feather. 

“I have paperwork,” Lyf stated, rubbing at an annoying smudge on their glasses. “If I can’t get it done by the weekend the boss is gonna wring me by my neck, so I decided to just finish it all tonight.”

Marius nodded as he listened. “Can it wait for a small chat?”

They looked him in the eyes as they put their glasses back on. “No.”

He was shocked by the bluntness of the answer until the tired being continued. “I still have a stack of sheets that need proofreading and corrections and as stated before I need them done quickly.”

“And whos to say you can get anything done while talking to yours truly?” he gestured vaguely at himself. “I can even play you music if you want, I’m sure Raph and Ivy would be thrilled to join.”

“Gods no,” Lyf scoffed. “I would rather not deal with their reinterpretations of whatever drunken chant you all had heard in the office a month ago. Speaking of that, how do you manage to not only find the classic pop songs but also manage to play only the bad ones?”

Marius shrugged. “If I promise to play something you like will you stay? Not a pop song, not a chant, not one of our ballads, a song you pick.”

They stood there for a minute debating their options. He smiled at the inspector who sighed and shook their head in response, mumbling something that sounded vaguely like an insult and regret. “I’ll probably regret this in the morning. Sure, let me get my papers first.”

He beamed at the detective reaching for yet another of the violins he had managed to stockpile and hide, “I knew you would come around!”

That had been a good memory for Marius. Lyf had stayed the rest of the night filling out the papers as Marius played some of the systems more poetic songs. As far as he was concerned the system had quite nice music and even the bad songs had been rather nice compared to other planets they had gotten stuck on. At one point they had even gotten the stuck up inspector to sing along with an old tune. The next morning Raphaella and Ivy had expressed distaste with Marius’s refusal to let them join in on the music session.

Lyfrassir had joined them more times after that late at night when they still had work to do and even begrudgingly brought them the sheet music for a variety of songs. He still had the sheet music but never brought himself to play any of it after they had escaped. It felt wrong to put something so personal out in the open when it wasn't even particularly special to himself. He still kept it though, he was careful with each page keeping them flat in a locked box only letting Ivy touch them once to digitize each one, even then he told her to wear gloves. 

Another good memory was one of the first times he had broken out. The police had no clue what was going on for the most part and Ivy and Raphaella had been right behind him. It was a fun night to begin with, small heists, exploration of the city, Ivy had even managed to get a hold of multiple books explaining Yggdrasils history and culture. 

“Flowers and hairstyles can mean a lot!” she started, excitedly flipping page to page. “There's at least three chapters on these!”

“And what would our dear inspector's hair mean then?” he questioned fidgeting with a small intricate pocket watch. 

“Well most of it just seems to be a stylistic choice, to keep it out of the way during work. However the one on the top right is supposed to represent their family with the light brown beads showing how many living members there are and the dark brown being how many are dead.”

Marius nodded along half paying attention and half zoned in on his current task. Raphaella gestured for her to continue however as she began snapping pictures and taking notes about the city. 

“The one directly under it shows that their single and the one to their bottom left is supposed to show their job and rank. A bunch of other beads are for more minor identifications,” she said skipping a bit more joyfully. “There's so much detail in this, the chance had been high that it was a tradition but I didn’t perceive there would be this much detail?”

“Well there's something new to annoy them!” he responded as the pocket watch glistened open. “You said flowers are important, anything we can bring them?”

She shuffled through the book some more before letting out a small ‘aha’ as she began to read. “We can get them a crochet that means friendship!” 

The three talked excitedly for a while as they strolled around the city taking in the view. It was rather calm for most of the night, except for an attempt at a mugging. All three had been shot down but the man had run as soon as they rose back up again dropping their belongings, so it still wasn't that bad of a night. It got even better considering the group was now decked out in more average street clothes which happened to be quite comfortable compared to their normal outfits. All three had made the executive decision to take and hide more than one outfit on their person to bring back to the Aurora, maybe Jonny could copy the patterns and material for them. 

It was however concerning when they had returned.It was around a week and half later when they stopped having fun and wanted to go back to the routine schedule of annoying Lyfrassir Somehow they hadn't been noticed when they first walked into the station and asked to speak with their dear friend.

“They haven’t been back in four days,” the secretary stated, concern lacing their tone. “I thought that their friends would know what had happened.”

Ivy shook her head as the group felt fear rise in their guts. Lyfrassir had always come into the station even if only for an hour or two each day. The only exception to this was holidays, rare sick days, and the few times they had seemed more bubbly beforehand (later those had been relabeled as their vacations).

“Did they give any warning beforehand?” Ivy asked. “Do you know where they possibly could have run off to.”

They shook their head. “They didn’t schedule anything prior, they just didn't seem to show up. I originally thought they had a bad flu at night but that usually only takes two days to get over at most so they could be anywhere. All I know is that their last investigation was a robbery based one, shook them up pretty bad when they came back.”

They all exchanged a look after that before thanking the secretary and walking out. At that point they had a vague idea about what had happened but they had robbed so many stores that night it was hard to recount. Raphaella began to pace nervously before she spoke.

“Alright, brainstorming. Where could our dear inspector have wandered off to?”

“A bar?”

“Too common and to many, plus they’re a pretty bad introvert and wouldn't find comfort in a potentially hostile environment,” Ivy chirped.

“A local shop?”

“For four days? They like spending time in interesting places but not that much,” Marius argued. “What if they just left?”

The group froze at the idea. It was a real option and real possibility. The inspector hated their job and had little they liked in the city. It wouldn't be hard to just escape from the planet and never be seen again. People had done it all the time, hell Jonny pretty much did it, so Lyfrassir could’ve just left them. The three didn’t want to think about it and much less did not want this to be the correct scenario. 

“The chances are around thirty five point three percent,” Ivy explained. “Unlikely but still a noticeable choice, it rises the longer we spend waiting to be honest.”

“Then what about their house?” Marius asked frantically. “They always liked their home, what if they're just cooped up in there.”

The two calmed at that idea until Raphaella spoke again. “So what do you want to do, just barge in on the poor lad and in the process scare them half to death.”

“Well no but what choice do we have?” he argued. “We can bring them flowers or something, Ivy you know where some of the flower shops are and their meaning right?”

She nodded.

“Well then let’s get going! We don’t have all day!” he said dragging them down the street away from the station.

That's how the three immortal space pirates had arrived at their dear old friends (though one sided) apartment with a small bouquet of flowers and an apology card. The group for once in their lives paid for the package half since it was a small business but also because this was a little more personal than most robberies. There was also some guilt at the fact that a robbery is what caused this situation. The three fidgeted nervously in front of apartment 503 passing the responsibilities between each one. ‘You should knock’ and ‘what is the probability they'll come back if we just place this here?’ had been two very popular statements during this ordeal. After a handful of rounds of rock paper scissors it had been decided Raphaella would knock, Ivy would give the flowers, and Marius would do the talking. 

Raphaella had been up first and only knocked once before waiting for a response, to no avail. She repeated the action a bit louder still getting no answer before turning to the group and seeking both approval and reassurance with her next decision. When both nodded she began to repeatedly knock the door until they heard a familiar groan of annoyance from the other side. 

They quickly shuffled into their predetermined positions (yes, they had been that hesitant) waiting for the door to open. It took a minute but when it did they were greeted by a rather downputting sight. Lyfrassir stood there, seemingly unharmed, but not exactly joyous. Their hair was greasy and they wore nothing but baggy loungewear and a jacket on top. They had snatched their glasses but those had looked out of place and did nothing to hide their red eyes and bags that rested under them, it had been easy to tell they had been crying. The inspector stared at the floor as they spoke.

“Look I just need a little more time and then I’ll-”

“Inspector?” Marius interrupted.

Their eyes shot up to meet the group looking like they had seen a ghost. “Vo-Von Raum?”

They darted their looks between the three joyous for a minute before it settled into panic, “How are you three alive?! I-I saw your blood all over the-the.”

They backed up into the apartment shaking violently and unable to take their gaze off of the three, that's when it had hit them. People typically don’t get up after being shot and after a certain amount of time (and more importantly blood) it's safe to assume the victim had passed on or been taken away. In this case three pools of blood nestled in a alleyway as well as multiple bullets probably led to the firm conclusion that the three escaped convicts had died and their bodies had been taken away. This was not the actual situation and left much unexplored but the horrified Lyfrassir couldn't process this, all that they could process was they had been too late and now the spirits of the convicts had either come back to kill them or haunt them (quite possibly both).

Marius was the first to take a step forward. “Hey-Hey calm down Edda we’re fine, we’re still here.”

They shook their head violently, falling to the ground and clutching desperately at their hair. This couldn’t be real, this could never be real, the convicts had died and it was all their fault for not keeping a closer eye on the mischief makers.

At this point the three had begun to file into the apartment and quickly try to help in any way they could think of. Ivy placed the bouquet down and walked to the side in order not to pressure them as Raphaella joined Marius in trying to comfort them, albeit they were still trying to keep a distance between them.

“You were dead! All-All of your blood was there! Nobody could survive that!” they sobbed choking up even more. “You can’t be here cause-cause whoever kill-killed you took you away!”

“We’re still alive Lyfrassir you have to trust us,” Marius spoke in an overtly gentle tone. “Even if we had died you couldn’t have saved us, it was our own fault.”

He began to move closer gently placing a hand on theirs. “See? I’m okay, I'm still here.”

They had tensed up at the grasp before slowly uncurling and clutching at the hand closer before looking up at Marius. He smiled softly as the inspector slowly reached out and hugged them. It was tight and borderline painful but it was also too desperate for Marius to tell them to let go. They cried more but slowly began to lose tension in their muscles and Ivy and Raphaella had joined in in soothing them.

“You're absolutely fine, nothings wrong we just went missing for a bit that's all. We three are completely fine,” Raphaella murmured.

“Do you need water, there's a seventy five percent chance you haven't drunk much during the past week.”

They nodded and reluctantly let Ivy go and find her way to the kitchen. It didn’t take long for her to return but in that time the inspector had managed to fall asleep leaning his weight on Marius as the three huddled around them.

This had brought something new to the table, something they hadn't felt in a while, worry. They didn’t need to worry about this on the Aurora since everyone was immortal and knew the boundaries, but here? There was a lot to worry about. Back with the Mechanisms they could wait forever if needed but here they couldn’t, they needed to react as soon as they could to fix something. Lyfrassir was mortal, they only had so long and that period would be cut off by whatever tragedy comes next. If they broke them it was game over, no reconnecting, no eventual forgiveness, it was done. They were fragile and the three had to for once in their lives be as careful as possible to make sure they didn't shatter. 

Marius sighed at the memory. Even when trying to think of something nice he just kept looping back to all the times he caused them unneeded stress. He would do something stupid and find the inspector passed out drunk the next day or with bruises from looking for him for days. It was nice to know someone cared enough to search every time he got out but it was still difficult to deal with if that person was mortal and had no self preservation. He sat there in his room for another minute before getting up and deciding to take a stroll through the ship.

It was nice to clear your head when on the Aurora. Between the nonstop violence and chaos every once in a while you could just play peacefully in a recording room or stare out at the stars. Marius had begun going through every single therapeutic activity on the list checking off each that worked and had been using them for quite a bit now. After the bifrost he hadn't had the easiest time falling back into place as he did on other planets. Ivy and Raphaella had joined him the first couple times but had soon gone their merry ways to do as they did best, so he was doing this alone. 

He didn’t necessarily need the company, if anything he didn't want it, but it was nice to stop by and chat every once in a while. Brain also took note ready to talk to Marius when he needed to, even if it was minor.

He would need a real Brian therapy discussion after stumbling across Ashes, Jonny, and Tim dragging the limp body of a disheveled and quite different Lyfrassir Edda onto the ship.


	3. Greetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is probably going to be longer don't worry.

To say he was disturbed by the sight was the least, to say that it was rather horrifying is a little bit more accurate.

“What the hell is going on?!” he shouted.

Jonny looked at him with a panicked look in his eyes as Tim and Ashes followed. All three had some form of dread on their face though in varying degrees. 

“Marius I swear to god this isn’t what it looks like,” Tim said, trying to lift Lyfrassir a little bit higher off the ship's floor.

He gestured at the three of them frantically. “Really?! Cause it looks like you’ve just killed the Inspector!”

“Ex-Inspector,” Ashes chimed in as they moved the three of them toward the nearest couch. “Bounty Hunter now.”

“You killed them over that?!”  
“Oh sweet lord Marius they’re not dead,” Jonny groaned. “We knocked them out when-”

“You kidnapped them!”

He was very much panicking now. Not only was the inspector actually alive but they had a very interesting career shift. They had always had a very interesting moral guide but even this was surprising. It made sense now that he was looking a bit closer, the long black clothes, the shorter hair being tied up and shaved, even the boots looked made for combat. 

“Why in heaven's name did you kidnap them?! What did they do that warranted a kidnapping from you?!” 

The three looked at each other before turning back to Marius.

“I think you might want to sit down for this,” Ashes said.

“What? What happened?” 

He was steadily getting even more concerned with the situation as it progressed. First they dragged in someone who ,probability wise, was supposed to be dead and now they want to have a chat that's obviously not going to be pleasant. So in conclusion Marius was filled with fear, and that was a pretty justifiable emotion.

He sat down on one of the couches as the three others sat on the one across from him, Lyf of course was laying on one and despite the fact that he could fit on it he didn’t want to risk waking the ‘inspector-now-bounty-hunter’. They looked different to say the least, not worse but in no shape or way better. 

“So, what do you need to tell me that's so bad you would have to sit me down?”

Ashes took a deep breath before beginning to speak. “We had been causing some problems, the normal, when we figured out the local police had been placing bounties on us. We had no idea if anyone took these bounties until a blonde man had come over at a bar and wanted to play cards. At first we thought nothing of it but then Jonny joked about them being the dear inspector and they froze up, that's how we found out.”

“So you’re telling me it was a chance that you found them,” he summarized, fidgeting with anything he could get his hands on as Ashes nodded. “And you kidnapped them why?”

Jonny piped in. “We thought you’d want to know how they’re doing. Offered for them to follow but when we said you’d be happy about it they flipped out, shot me square in the face.”

“Why-Why would they freak out? I thought we were friends.”

He shrugged obviously getting uncomfortable with the emotional atmosphere. 

Marius pondered in silence at the idea. He had always been rather nice to lyf, even if annoying, so why would they just downright hate him. Did he push it too far with escaping? Did he hate Raphealla and Ivy too, is this a group thing? There were so many questions he wanted to ask and the only person to have answers hated him enough to shoot someone for the mere mention of them being familiar. 

“I know you have a lot of questions,” Ashes said, breaking the silence. “But I think they’ll be even madder if we leave them on the couch or outside so if you could help us move them to the medical wing that would be quite appreciated.”

Ashes always had done a good job at defusing situations. “Right...right.”

Carefully he and Ashes moved to pick up the limp body of the dear inspector. It was weird to see them after so long thinking they had been dead, giving their looks they might as well be. They had multiple new scars that Marius could only now make out as well as rainbow streaks in their hair. On top of everything they were much lighter than before and it didn't take much help from Ashes to move them into the medical bay.

They dropped Lyfrassir on an empty cot and began to gather up whatever they could to make the situation a little nicer. Pillows, blankets, and a single more cuddly octo kitten to join the party (their name in question was Arson, named after Ashes had accidentally dropped them in a fire and they emerged unharmed proceeding to cuddle back up with the ship's resident arsonist right after). After that Ashes had left claiming to just be out to fetch water, that was not the case considering that they hadn’t come back after 20 minutes. 

So here Marius was left with a being who hated him but was still mortal. He could come back from whatever they did to him, it was not guaranteed for Lyfrassir though. One shot, one good stab, and they would be as good as dead on this ship, and then he would be right back at the start. He couldn’t let that happen, not after all this time of mourning and grief. Even if they would hate them for eternity Marius wasn’t going to let their petty revenge get them killed, not now, not ever.

And so the game began. What would be the best way to protect the ex-inspector without interacting with them directly? Maybe he could beg Nastya to set up a seperate area on the ship nobody used and get Aurora to help take care of them, but that wouldn't help. He knew that they had always been at least somewhat social in the Yggdrasil system and keeping them locked up in a room would only push them further in hatred, no matter how nice the room was, so that plan was out the airlock.

If he let them go they would just follow the ship until it was assured he was dead, and that would never happen. While Marius was not particularly upset with the kidnapping and death he didn't want it to be at the hands of Lyfrassir Edda, more accurately he didn't want them to waste their time on that. It would be more painful to watch them grow older and weaker as the days went on than it would be to be killed over and over again. In no way, shape, or form was the idea of watching them rot away appealing. 

So segway to the next possible idea, making friends. It was risky, improbable, and quite possibly insane, but it was quite possibly the only answer. Keep them away from anything too deadly and convince them to give up, to stop their rage. He would have to make way, way, to many sacrifices for this to work but what choice did he have at this point? He didn't want them to die in a vengeful rage nor did he want to watch them die slowly and painfully, the least he can do is grant a nice peaceful death after a long and at least mildly fulfilling life. 

This epiphany was broken by the one and only Lyfrassir Edda who began to groggily shuffle on the cot. Marius stayed silent as he watched them seem to take in some of their surroundings.

“Inspector?”he said, moving over to get a closer look. 

They groaned pulling the blanket up to try to block out the light before suddenly stiffening. After that things moved quickly for him. A gun was frantically pointed at him in mere seconds as they stared at him as hate flooded their eyes. He knew this situation would be painful, he didn't think it would be this bad. 

“So, are you here to finish it?” they asked pushing themselves off the bed cautiously keeping their gun aimed at Marius.

It took him longer than he would like to admit to put the pieces back together. “No of course not! I get I’m not a nice person but why would I go through the trouble of killing you after the-”

“Shut up,” they interrupted, cocking the gun. “Why am I here?”

“Well there's a lot of reasons for that-'' a shot ran next to his head almost grazing his ear. “The crew just decided to kidnap you, I don’t have a reason.”

“Well I do Von Raum,” they pushed themselves off the coat careful to not lose their focus. “I’ll have you know I didn’t just barely make an escape from the now squamous thing that is my home planet to be abducted by you three, and with that I’ll be taking my leave.”

Lyfrassir turned towards the doorway marching out into the hallways and soon was gone down the ship. That would be the end, wouldn't it? It’s not like they were going to try anything drastic. They had always been a levelheaded individual and that most likely would never change. 

Marius was commonly proven wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will say that one of my favorite lines in this is 'Oh sweet lord Marius they're not dead' simply because it radiates such a chaotic and feral energy.


	4. A Map and a Familiar Face.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyf being a bastard and Ivy trying to process the probability of them having a normal conversation (its close to none)

If there was anything Lyfrassir was it was observant. They had become an inspector for a couple reasons and this was one of the big ones. Sure they had no common knowledge of the layout of the ship or where everyone might be, but they did have one thing, stories. As much as they hated the prisoners singing they had listened to them. They knew rough facts about the people who boarded this ship and had at least a rough sketch of what the people on it would act. This coupled with their somewhat loose training on what to do if kidnapped gave them an unknown ace and they would be damned if they didn’t use it. 

They had time when searching for the prisoners who doomed their planet. They had a lot of time. This time was eventually used to train their powers, learn to control the squamous thing that had consumed everything they once knew. They knew their limits, and they knew what they could do. 

Their thoughts were interrupted suddenly by the heavy footsteps of metal tipped shoes. Turning around to meet the new face Lyfrassir was greeted by a wooden doll smiling cheerfully at them. 

“You must be the dear inspector!” they shouted. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you!”

“Pleasures all mine,” they mumbled, sarcastically gripping their gun a little tighter. “Which one would you be?”

“The Toy Soldier!” its bright smile seemed to grow a bit larger. 

The memories came flooding back, the faint songs that grew ever louder. So this was the aforementioned Toy Soldier, the wooden doll who not only fought war after war with a painted smile but also took any order given. 

“Great,” they responded. “Do you mind showing me around? Just a quick tour of the ship.”

It practically jumped in excitement at the request. “Absolutely Inspector, what a spiffing idea.”

And that's how the plan started to fall into place. If they knew the layout of the ship then they could surely sneak back in if desired and why not disguise this as a simple tour. The worst thing that could happen would be murder and even that wasn’t to bad for them nowadays. Taking out their phone they began to take pictures as they passed by of really anything recognizable, a trail of bullet holes, a crack in the ceiling, everything was fair game if they would be running out later. 

The ship was nice. It was an older model they could recognize, they just couldn’t put a finger on where it had come from. It was quite well cared for which was always an important sign, then again they had low standards after escaping in a rusty old ship that was a bit more of an escape pod. Some patches of metal looked a bit more rough and rugged, like they had just tried to hammer it back in place, but compared to the bullets holes or burning on some of the ships walls it was pretty much nothing. 

The layout was much more concerning to Lyfrassir. The halls seemed to twist and turn with the intention of getting them lost. The Toy Soldier moved with a finesse and memorized order but they swore that they had passed the same room at least three times by now never going in. It had also been incredibly specific in its descriptions allowing them to get a bit of a small idea of how often the room was used. 

Only after passing the main comms room five times did they find the exit to the ship. In a rush of what might’ve been anxiety they quickly opened the door only to be greeted by blank land for miles. 

“How far away from the city are we,” they asked with a tone that would frighten the devil himself.

“Around,” it stopped counting on their fingers a bit. “Three days out on foot.”

It took everything in their body not to shoot the Toy Soldier in that moment. “You kidnapped me, brought me into the middle of nowhere, and expected me to get back myself?”

“Well we didn’t expect that!” it protested. “We never said we wouldn’t give you a ride.”

They stood there rubbing their eyes in annoyance. “You 're going to give me a ride? Is that still an option on the table.”

It nodded.

“Then that's the option I will take.”

It clapped at their answer before heading back into the ship. “Do you need anything Inspector? Tea maybe?”

They shook their head following them silently through the ship yet again until reaching what they now knew was the main piloting room. Sitting at the front was a man playing the banjo cheerfully and humming. Their skin was completely made of brass and movements way more swift than they expected. He turned to face the two with a confused expression. 

“Who’s your friend Ts?” he asked casually, placing the instrument down to the side. 

“The dear Inspector!” it stated oblivious to the slight tenseness that washed over the man.

It took them a bit longer to really piece together everything and a lot more brain power than they would’ve wished to pull up the old memories. So this was Drumbot Brian, a moral compass for the group from what little they knew. He wasn’t exactly what they had been expecting but to be honest ‘drumbot’ leaves a lot unsaid when it comes to physical appearances.

“You’re the inspector?” they asked.

“Ex-Inspector, if your whole world doesn’t exist then neither do your qualifications,” they crossed their arms trying to relax into a slightly more casual position. 

He nodded, “Right, that makes sense.”

There was a moment of awkward silence between the three before the Toy Soldier spoke up. “They would like a ride back to the local city! You know the one with the pretty lights!”

“Oh! Yeah that's relatively far to reach while walking,” he moved towards the control panel. “It shouldn’t take that long to get there, hopefully only 3 hours or less.”

They nodded, “Better than three days,”

Brian gestured for them to take a seat and Lyf was glad to oblige leaning back and relaxing still tired from the whole ordeal. It wasn’t a smart idea to relax around strangers but it wasn’t like life could get much worse, so why not take the bait. The Toy Soldier continued to stand with a smile on its face as it watched him type in coordinates and return to their banjo as the ship began to stir.

They sat there for a while longer in dead silence as he strummed seemingly random notes and small pieces from other songs. 

“Any requests?”

Lyfrassir smirked at the question. “Nothing that you would be able to play on a banjo, we didn’t have many back home.”

Brian nodded in understanding before beginning a slower melody. The three stayed there for a while just following along with the music as they stared out into the distance. After a while the Toy Soldier seemed to join in singing a light melody as he continued cycling through the songs. It was obvious the two had played together before and knew every step in the routine by habit rather than memory. He couldn’t blame them. Space is boring after a while and music helps pass the time. 

What they could blame them for though was the attraction of none other than another more familiar face to the deck.

“Brian I need the book you borrowed last week back I-”

The voice was cut off as Lyfrassir made eye contact with exactly who they would’ve rather not met. Ivy Alexandria, looking exactly the same as she had before the Bifrost. She carried a book that they didn’t recognize and were adorning a much more formal outfit than before but didn’t look like a day had passed in the three years since they had last seen each other, given the whole ‘not aging in 50 years’ thing that was expected. 

You could see the moment her brain practically fried at the sight of them. She stopped and looked at them then her crewmates before everything began to slowly come back. 

“Bet you thought you saw the last of me,” they laughed dryly at their comment. “Joke’s on you, I’m somehow still kicking.”

“Inspector-”

“Ex-Inspector,” they sighed. “You 're the smart one, it's not that hard to figure out that the destruction of a planet also means the destruction of my occupation on said planet.”

“How could you possibly escape? The chances were slim to zero and decreasing every second,” she gestured wildly as she asked the question.

“Yeah that's a question I’ve been asking myself to,” they answered. “how much longer until we get there?”

“I-”

“Around 2 hours and thirty minutes!” The Toy Soldier chimed in helpful as always.

“Great! In around two hours I’ll be out of your hair and you’ll never have to deal with the whole ‘screaming squamous things’ again? Sounds good?”

If Ivy hadn’t fried earlier she definitely did now.

“Inspector-”

“Ex-Inspector”

“Edda, you can’t just show up out of nowhere and suddenly disappear into the abyss again. We thought you had died! Marius almost went back in to get you!”

That's what had broken the already small and weak floodgate for Lyfrassir. “Yeah well he didn’t, I appreciate the sentiment Alexandria but nobody came to get me and at this point I really don’t care about that. You had the power to save millions of lives and you didn’t. We’re done here, discussions over.”

This threw Ivy for a loop as she slowly began to register everything that had been said. The old Lyf would’ve never said this to her, the old Lyf would’ve understood and moved on only wishing to amend the ties they had. This was not the old Lyf. This was one who had seen bloodshed and just barely escaped, this was a person who had been running for the past three years from something so unsightly even their friends had fled without so much as a goodbye. 

Guilt flooded through her system as she began to protest their remarks. “How could he have saved you Lyf, we thought you had died with everyone else. If we went back we would be dead too.”

“Maybe but you had what? Eighty years before that? Eighty years would’ve been enough to save more than me.”

“That's not true and you know it,” she fought back. “Who would’ve believed us? The government? We didn’t even know what was going to happen fully, just minor details and trinkets!”

“Oh do tell then! What did you know already?! That everyone I loved would die?! That a whole planet would be gone in less than an hour?! That nobody could stop it no matter how hard they tried?!”

“It's not our fault your people made that call! We're just there for the details, Edda not to play saints.”

“Ivy, Edda!” Brian shouted trying to break the argument up. “What’s done is done and we can’t change that, we’ll drop you off back at the city and then you can choose what you want to do.”

They took a deep breath glaring at Ivy in distaste. She glared back lacking the rage Lyfrassir was holding though. 

“I left the book in the library last time I visited, it's on the top right shelf.”

She nodded and quickly left the room to return to her library and hopefully do some more unethical research. Lyfrrassir just watched as she left growing more sick of being stuck here every minute that passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Lyfrassir Edda/Ivy Alexandria and the audacity of this immortal"


	5. A Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a surprising meeting with the former inspector Ivy decides her next course of action.

To say Ivy was upset was to belittle what had just happened. All her calculations all her beliefs had crumbled away in a minute leaving her with nothing but joy and confusion. She thought they had died long ago, everything pointed to them dying with their planet, but now they 're back and more sarcastic than ever. She noticed the changes in their demeanor easily, the bags around their eyes,their tense movements, the hidden scars peeking through around their hands and neck, everything pointed at them being in danger or danger itself and that sent her into a flight or fight instinct that refused to die down. 

She had almost forgotten about the book by the time she got back to her library and quickly began to uproot the documents she had taken so long ago. When back in the yggdrasil system she took advantage of any file she could get her hands on. Shortly after she came to terms with that planet's destruction she had begun to start copying and memorizing everything she could, call it a foolish act of preservation but she wanted to keep the planet's history. This of course included police records of the time, most revolving around the dear inspector. 

It took little to no time to start finding what she wanted, maps. She needed the locations of the ships, the types, and their access levels. If she could find what ship they used she could find their route and determine a loose string of events that lead to where they were today. Besides that she was following their qualifications, classes, notable skills, and really anything they could or couldn’t do at the time. 

The information was probably more personal than what she needed but she didn’t care that much, she needed an explanation, she was desperate for it. She took barely a glance at each report, more intent to figure out exactly what she needed and move on to the next. Everything moved quickly and as she flew through paragraph after paragraph until she found it.

It was something that fled her mind and she felt stupid for not realizing it sooner when it sat just in front of her face. A transport officer. They wouldn’t have access to anything to high tech that was for sure, no complex weaponry or armor, but they would have access to damaged vehicles. 

She frantically searched through his case files finding exactly what she had been anticipating, a simple problem really just a fidgety engine, enough to be repaired but still needing investigation. Assigned to them only a week before they had to run, before the bifrost caught up. A grin creeped across her face as the pieces fell into place.

They would have just enough time to reboot the engine and flee in the aircraft, making it far away to stay safe, hell they had time to pack what they needed. The thing was however it was a close call, Raphaella had given her records on the Bifrosts reach and they had just barely exited the main atmosphere of the planet, the one that would assure death no matter who. They had just barely made it out.

She thought she had gotten over the part of her that ran the calculations of their survival but apparently not. Ivy couldn’t help but think of what could’ve happened if they had brought them on their escape, if they had saved them. They were mortal there was no doubt but they could’ve avoided this easily. She shook her head quickly, she had gotten over them and that was that, she couldn’t change the past and even then Lyfrassir would never believe them, not until it was too late.

So she knew what happened, that was a step in the right direction, knowledge usually was, but what now? They had expressed distaste to her before and the chance of them talking to her willingly were slim if not impossible. She cursed herself for not thinking this through as she noticed something else in the room, something a little less questionable.

You see Tim had been trying something new, something different. She was never told if this was for entertainment or if it had a reason but she did know that it was working much better than any of them would think. He had been training a bunch of the octo kittens in many many things from party tricks to organized combat to most importantly spying. 

One in particular was a small soft one with a hidden recording mic and tracker in its collar named only Fish. They currently were curled up on a book cheerfully purring as she pet it gently. It wasn’t the best idea, it wasn't even a smooth one, but it was an idea. She picked the octo kitten up and slowly moved it out the door placing it by one of the neighboring vents with its tasks at hand.

Say what you want about the octo kittens but they were smart creatures and could sense when being told to do something. Fish was a trained professional at this point and took the hint quite well as they sludged across the metal vent on their way to the cockpit, on their way to Lyfrassir Edda. She smirked at her plan as the light noises faded into the distance quite proud of her quick thinking. The percentages were on her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things. When naming the octokitten I tried to think of the stupidest thing I could name it and for some reason Fish was the only thing my brain could think of so introducing Fish, the small spy. The second thing is look me in the eyes and tell me Tim wouldn't train the octokittens to not only perform but to spy on the rest of the crew, even if it is just to scare Jonny in the dead of night. He would find immense joy in teaching them to just like appear and dissapear at random around Jonny for weeks. This is also noticeably shorter but that just might be the lack of dialogue.
> 
> Hope you all are having a good time btw


	6. Reminiscent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lyfrassir has to deal with not only guilt but also a odd creature they have no idea how to handle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter does have a lot of drinking and alcohol abuse both past and present so if you don't vibe with that then either skip this chapter or proceed with caution.

The rest of the ride was a mix of awkward silence and ‘If you even look at me I will kill you’ energy but Lyfrassir honestly didn’t care. Being kidnapped takes it out of a person even if the kidnappers say that they’ve made a mistake and let you go. 

That wasn’t even counting the pure rage that was currently filtering through their system at the sight of the prisoners from back on Midgard. It was quite evident that they hadn’t thought much about the Bifrost, they saw the end of their life as some vacation. Those three had a lifetime to change the planet's fate and they decided not to and that hurt. What hurt worse was the knowledge they could’ve too.

They weren’t dumb, they had time before the Bifrost had consumed Midgard and maybe, just maybe, they couldve saved someone, anyone. It would’ve been easy but it slipped their mind and they still hated themselves for it. They didn’t necessarily like their life but they wouldn’t wish death upon any of it. 

They sighed in disappointment, apparently they had not gotten over this as much as they had thought. They were lucky they were back up on their small ship because this was something they did not want anyone else to really see.

Lyfrassir waltzed over to their kitchen grabbing a bottle of cheap whiskey and placing it on the counter as they fetched a shot glass. It wasn’t necessarily good whiskey but it was good enough to get them drunk if they so desired. That of course wasn’t the only use for it, it was just the most prominent one.

They fell onto the couch holding the bottle and glass while humming a song they had long since forgotten. It was a lullaby but they didn’t remember the lyrics, just small repetitive melodies. A Lot of their memories were like that. Something about the eldritch abomination mixing with what seemed like endless nights had managed to force out anything they had once deemed unimportant. Now the songs were more regretful than calming but what folk song wasn't? Itsy bitsy spider, Humpty Dumpty, that one song about the jump rope, each one was a tragedy in its own way so what was one more to the pile?

The first glass was bitter, disgusting, and every word that went with dreadful, it was also exactly what they needed at the minute. They quickly swallowed the liquid and poured another glass before reluctantly placing it to the side. They only had one bottle and it wasn’t exactly smart to drink it all at the beginning. 

With a deep breath they tried to remember the lyrics mumbling something that just loosely resembled a rhyme but found it was damn near impossible. That didn’t stop them from trying as they continued to try and fail to piece together the strewn about words. 

This pity party was unfortunately interrupted by the sound of a crashing bottle and loud screeching sound. They had almost fallen off the couch at the noise startled by the sudden commotion and carefully pushed themselves up to go investigate.

The glass was the first thing they noticed, a couple empty cups they had left out unfortunately now laid broken on the ground, the second thing they noticed was a black liquid on the ground trailing behind a counter. Curiously Lyfrassir peeked around the corner to see a small odd creature injured and making silent noises of frustration and pain when they moved. It looked like a cat that was genetically modified to be a furry octopus and none of it seemed like it should exist both genetically and reality wise. 

Carefully they moved towards the small creature reaching out a hand to help pick them up out of the glass mess. It reluctantly accepted and proceeded to ooze up their arm leaving a black stain on the fabric it touched. Unsure of what to do they placed the small creature on a countertop and made their way to clean up the mess.

The thing was smart enough to not interfere with the sharp glass but that does not mean they didn’t howl at them in protest the whole time. Was it hungry? Did it want attention? Lyfrassir had no clue what it desired and exasperatedly tried to clean up the mess even quicker than before as the creature screamed. Luckily it was just a few glasses and the stains could be cleaned as soon as they finished helping whatever this thing was.

The wounds didn’t look deep, more just light cuts than anything too bad, so those weren’t much of an issue. It also didn’t seem to be in pain so that meant there wasn’t any glass stuck in it, could glass even get stuck in it? After a minute of insistence they did decide that the thing was probably just hungry and went about grabbing some random leftovers from the fridge and leaving them open on the counter for it. The creature seemingly pleased by this sludged over to the small box and shoved its head into it.

While the creature ate they checked the small tag hanging over what could loosely be described as a neck flipping the small silver object around so they could read.

“Fish, If lost please return to Gunpowder Tim Master at Arms of The Aurora.”

They let out a deep sigh after reading this startling the attention of the small creature who was now covered in whatever they had been eating.

They didn’t want to keep the creature but they also didn’t want to deal with going back to that ship. It was bad enough being brought there without a choice and willingly showing up sounded just as awful if not worse. No, they would be dragged back dead to that ship rather than willingly the next time. So in the meantime this creature named ‘Fish’ would be staying with them. Which also means they should probably find out what it even is. 

That was going to have to be a problem for tomorrow's Lyfrassir though as well as the hangover that is sure to come from this. They fell back onto the couch grabbing their glass and taking another drink content to just go on until they inevitably passed out. Sorrow was apparently not a one person party like they had thought though as Fish now slightly cleaner made their way to gurgle and purr contently on their chest as it rubbed its head into their hand holding the glass. 

They laughed at the gesture and placed their cup to the side as they put and rubbed the content creature who leaned into every touch. It was weird and nothing like petting a cat but it still responded positively and seemed happy when they gave it attention, that was enough. 

They ended up not falling asleep to an empty bottle but to the small creature sleeping on their chest with a happy look on its face.


End file.
